About

Our Mission

To create worldwide access to the best of Silicon Valley’s ecosystem and “mindshare”. Our belief is that knowledge is meant to be shared. Access Silicon Valley helps entrepreneurs get answers to their biggest questions and inspiration from the mecca of the startup world.

Expertise

Silicon Valley is an international startup hub and for many entrepreneurs around the world, can seem out of reach.

Connections

Without having a direct connection to the greatest business minds, accessing industry expertise is challenging.

Support

Access Silicon Valley (ASV) provides entrepreneurs with opportunities to reach the most sought out Venture Capitalists, Founders and industry Experts.

Our Vision

As the founder of a number of Meetup groups, the first of which was Silicon Valley Startup Entrepreneurs, we share your vision of creating a space to meet, dream, learn, strategize and co-create. Yes, we are fully on board that dreaming is still part of the creation process! Silicon Valley Startup Entrepreneurs began with a vision to provide startup founders access–access to educational and other information that every first time founder should know or be exposed to. This includes access to high caliber angels, VCs and “been there done that” successful, serial entrepreneurs. The Silicon Valley ecosystem is unique, and, that’s why we created new Meetup groups under the umbrella of “Access Silicon Valley,” that extends beyond the geographical borders of Silicon Valley! In fact it’s much more than just a Meetup group…it’s the opportunity to become part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem or “mindshare” as we like to think of it.

Access Silicon Valley is the “virtual bridge” to Silicon Valley, where startup entrepreneurs and serial entrepreneurs in real time, get access to relevant content, and have the opportunity to interact with, angels, VCs and great entrepreneurs that they otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity to see, hear or possibly connect with. In addition we have put together valuable workshops to prepare startup entrepreneurs for the roller coaster ride of the startup world! We encourage you to join us.

Access Silicon Valley is an extension of the overall global vision to build “virtual bridges” between those cities that have great startup communities and Silicon Valley. Stay tuned for an exciting journey as we deliver events, content and workshops that you won’t want to miss! We invite you to reach out and learn more about our amazing network of VC’s, entrepreneurs, artists, technologists and designers, as we want YOU to be part of the journey!

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a nickname for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. The “valley” in its name refers to the Santa Clara Valley in Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and surrounding cities and towns, where the region has been traditionally centered. The region has expanded to include the southern part of the valley down to Gilroy, and southern portions of the East Bay in Alameda County.

The word “silicon” originally referred to the large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers in the region, but the area is now the home to many of the world’s largest high-tech corporations, including the headquarters of 39 businesses in the Fortune 1000, and thousands of startup companies. Silicon Valley also accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States, which has helped it to become a leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation and scientific development. It was in the Valley that the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other key technologies, were developed. As of 2013, the region employed about a quarter of a million information technology workers.

As more high-tech companies were established across San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, and then north towards the Bay Area’s two other major cities, San Francisco and Oakland, the “Silicon Valley” has come to have two definitions: a geographic one, referring to Santa Clara County, and a metonymical one, referring to all high-tech businesses in the Bay Area or even in the United States. The term is now generally used as a synecdoche for the American high-technology economic sector. The name also became a global synonym for leading high-tech research and enterprises, and thus inspired similar named locations, as well as research parks and technology centers with a comparable structure all around the world.

The ASV Team

Founder: Roger Rappoport

My name is Roger Rappoport founder of Access Silicon Valley, a sometime angel, and a practicing corporate attorney based in San Diego and Silicon Valley (click here for bio), focused almost exclusively on representing emerging growth companies, and helping first time and serial entrepreneurs develop and implement strategies to build, finance, grow and, ultimately, sell their startups. I always elicit a chuckle from clients, when I tell them that the advice I provide typically falls into one of three buckets: legal advice (40%), business advice (40%) and psycho-therapy (on the house) (20%)! (The time devoted to psychotherapy is invariably higher (significantly) and seems to track closely with, the presence of a diminished bank account, an impending payroll, and the closing date of a financing that appears to be slipping.)

In addition, since virtually all of my clients are alike, in that they have no money, get money, have no money again, get more money again and, ultimately exit, there is constantly a little dash of matchmaking thrown into the mix, when it comes to helping entrepreneurs develop a funding strategy, and identifying the appropriate angels, angel groups or VC’s that we should target to fund the next “cool thing” or their “disruptive technology in that space.”

Having been an entrepreneur for a decade before becoming a lawyer (and having left a lot on the table and having learned many valuable lessons in that regard), I have what I believe is a unique perspective–the ability to view situations from both sides of the table. Whenever I dealt with lawyers in my prior life as an entrepreneur, I remember so often wanting to shout out to them “don’t keep telling me what I can’t do or give me a lecture on the law–just give me what you believe are the best alternatives to help me accomplish the things that I want to achieve!” This is one of my mantras that I try to live by in assisting my clients. Access Silicon Valley is ultimately my attempt to provide access to all of those resources that I never had access to as an entrepreneur, which I believe can significantly contribute to the long term success of a company.

Marketing Communications: Shannon Donnellan

My entrepreneurial spirit brought me to Access Silicon Valley and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Roger. We both share a profound passion for the work we do, professionally and personally. Together we are committed to sharing that enthusiasm with all of our Access Silicon Valley disrupters.

As for my background, I am a Project Management Professional (certified PMP) with ten years of experience in the creative services, promotions and marketing industries. Having worked with a variety of clients, I’ve spent an extensive amount of time working with SAAS and cloud-based technology platforms in addition to smaller startup companies. To be inspired by entrepreneurs and innovation each day is a blessing and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Access Silicon Valley provides entrepreneurs with opportunities to reach the most sought out Venture Capitalists, Founders and industry Experts.

We provide worldwide access to the best of Silicon Valley's ecosystem and "mindshare". Our belief is that knowledge is meant to be shared. Access Silicon Valley helps entrepreneurs get answers to their biggest questions and inspiration from the mecca of the startup world.